


Always Beach Boys

by chibimono



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Gen, M/M, Reunions, beach, getting older
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-07-15
Updated: 2007-07-15
Packaged: 2017-10-29 21:18:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/324275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chibimono/pseuds/chibimono
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was nothing for them to be up all night in the summer, playing in the fire light and eating clams, kicking up sand and splashing in the waves. Then they had gotten older and had outgrown tennis and middle school for high school and tennis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Always Beach Boys

They were beach boys. Always had been beach boys. It was nothing for them to be up all night in the summer, playing in the fire light and eating clams, kicking up sand and splashing in the waves. They would head home when the sun came up, to sleep, before heading to the Rokkaku courts for afternoon practice, and then back out to the beach.

They had gotten older and had outgrown tennis and middle school for high school and tennis. And then outgrown it all for colleges and universities and jobs and the real world.

But they were still beach boys, even though now they were men. Only now it was reserved for the weekends, when obligations did not interfere, and neither did a few girlfriends or a wife. The summer nights were warm, and the fire light was warmer. Beer chilled luke-warm by damp sand, or bottles of sake at body heat temperature, or an occasion flask of something stronger joined in with the familiar taste of roasted clams and corn. They would be covered in sand from falling over, laughing, shoving, laughing, and falling over from laughing. Sometimes, in celebration or in an attempt to sober up a friend too far gone or because Davide never ever gave up punning, someone would get tossed into the waves for good measure.

The nights would end earlier, way before sun rise, but their homes were so much farther now than just a walk of a few blocks and alcohol impaired them just a little too much for safety. Their cars were closer and were just enough. Kentarou sometimes did not even make it to his car, or if he did, he would lay, spread out, on the hood. Saeki would sit in the driver's seat and lean his head against the steering wheel, giving everyone one more laugh in the morning with the mark it would leave on his forehead. Davide had a tendency to climb in and curl up in his car's trunk--he kept pillows and blankets there for just that reason--and more often than not, the back seats were folded down to make room for Bane, just a bit bigger in size than he, who just wanted his warmth on a hot summer night. The twins had tried it once, because they thought it looked easy, but years apart had changed familiar sleeping habits and Atsushi just kept to the back seat as Ryou claimed the front. Itsuki was the only one that remained on the beach most nights, laying out a towel by the fire to keep it going, and to be the alarm for everyone in the morning when he felt the dawning sun warm his skin after the fire had burned out.

Morning would come with them bleary eyed and slightly hung over. They would share few shoulder slaps, a hug or two, sad smiles, and a promise that one day, they would have a house built on the beach so they would not have to sleep in their cars. A couple more laughs, a few hesitant glances, and wistful goodbyes all around. And the night would be done.

They would call each other in the the coming days and plan for another night on the beach, but life made these weekends few and far in between. Life always continued, constantly moving on, but they would still have the beach.

After all, they were beach boys. Always had been.


End file.
